Quincy uses big fourth quarter to down Vikings

QUINCY — In a battle of soon to be conference rivals, the Quincy Orioles used a big fourth quarter to finally put away a scrappy Bronson Vikings squad Wednesday night by the score of 62-45.

Quincy came out of the gate running early, as the Orioles took a quick 6-0 lead just a minute in, capped off by a huge two-handed slam by freshman William Dunn, forcing a Bronson timeout.

The paced slowed a bit for both teams after the timeout as both teams settled into an offensive rhythm.

Quincy tried to pull away early on, however the stingy Bronson squad refused to let the game get away, as they keep the game close throughout the first quarter.

The Orioles led after one quarter of play by the score of 17-13.

Bronson went to a full court press defense which frustrated the Orioles to begin the second quarter, allowing the Vikings to quickly close the gap.

Both teams struggled to find any sort of offense in the second quarter, as Bronson closed the score to 21-20 at the half by outscoring the Orioles 7-4.

It was after the half that Quincy began to pull away, as a six point run early in the half put some distance between themselves and the visitors.

“I told the guys that I thought they were settling for a lot of jump shots in the first half,” said Quincy head coach Scott Rodesiler. “I challenged them after the break to attack the rim more. It doesn’t matter what defense a team is in, you can attack it and find holes. We didn’t do a good job of that in the first half and I challenged them to do better in the second half, which I feel they did.”

Quincy went on to build their biggest lead of the night after their tenth unanswered point at the 4:45 mark, giving the Orioles a 31-23 lead, forcing a Bronson timeout.

Bronson came out of the timeout reinvigorated, going on a little six point spurt of their own, led by senior guard Luis Depaz who had five quick points.

The Vikings went on to close the score to within 35-31 with under two minutes to play in the quarter, Quincy timeout.

Bronson looked to have closed the gap to 37-33 just before the half, but a tough Dunn bucket mere seconds before the buzzer made the score 39-33 after three quarters of play.

The fourth quarter started strong for Bronson, as DePaz hit another three pointer to close the gap to 39-36 with just seconds gone in the fourth.

After a defensive stop, the Vikings got a great chance to tie the score as Wyatt Heal scored on a tough lay-up, finding himself fouled in the process.

Heal missed the free throw but Bronson had still closed the score to 39-38 with under seven minutes to play.

That’s when Bronson’s offense went cold and the Orioles began to heat up, as Quincy went on to outscore the Vikings 23-7 over the final seven minutes to secure the non-conference win.

“There at the start of the fourth quarter we just went absolutely cold,” said Bronson head coach Dennis Gest. “We couldn’t make a shot and they couldn’t seem to miss. That six point run they made really killed us and we couldn’t recover from that.”

Bronson was led on the night by Luis DePaz who had 11 points and three rebounds, followed by Wyatt Heal who had eight points and four assists.

Courtney Salesman added eight points and seven rebounds while Ethan Cossairt chipped in with six points and seven assists.

Logan Kenny had four points; Brenden Bell had four points, three rebounds, and two steals; Lane Mullins had two points; Thadd Herman had two points and three rebounds; and Dakota Schlautmann added two rebounds in the Bronson effort.

“We said before the game, the hero of the game is going to be the guy on the backside who keeps the other team from getting offensive rebounds or helps on defense,” said Gest. “We just didn’t do that tonight, that’s on us. For them to shoot 8 of 10 in the paint area, that pretty much tells the tale. We just couldn’t hit a shot there in the end and in a game like this you’ve got to keep pace, and we didn’t do that tonight.”

Bronson is now 3-8 on the season, 2-4 in the BCS conference, and will next see action Friday when they travel to White Pigeon.

Quincy was led on the night by Nathan Karney who had another solid all-around game with 18 points, seven rebounds, six assists, and four steals.

William Dunn added 14 points, four rebounds, and three assists while Bryce Ruhl chipped in with 11 points, eight rebounds, and two steals.

Drew Deaton also put up double figures in scoring with 10 points while Caleb McCavit chipped in with four points, five rebounds, and three assists.

“We are finally getting a little healthier now,” said Rodesiler. “It was kind of neat to have more than one or two guys score in double figures in a game, which is what has been going on all year. But to start doing this in the stretch makes us a tough team to play, having multiple options that we can go to is really going to frustrate some teams.”

Quincy improves to 7-3 overall on the season with the win and will next see action Friday when they travel to Reading for Big 8 conference play.

Quincy JV downs Bronson

QUINCY — The Quincy JV Orioles used their quick and fast paced offense to pull away from the Bronson JV Vikings late to take the 60-38 victory.

“We finally got some of our guys back healthy which really helped us on both ends of the floor,” said Quincy head coach Jared Stuchell. “We went to a full court press there in the second quarter that caused a lot of turnovers and helped us get some easy points.”

Quincy was led on the night by Evan Coon who recorded a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds.

Also adding to the Oriole win was Logan Banks with five points; Nathan Spiece with three points; Sebastian Gillette with two points; Dalton Messenger with four points; Nathan McNight with four points; Steel Gillette with six points; and Logan Wygant-Wright with one point.

“We still missed 10 lay-ups there in the first half,” added Stuchell. “But overall I’m really happy with the effort. The guy’s were all flying to the ball and giving all out effort throughout the game. It really was a good effort for us tonight.”

Bronson was led on the night by Hudson Wotta who had 16 points, the only Viking in double figures.

Also chipping in for the Viking effort was Graham Eley who had six points; Brett Sikorski who had five points; Drew Stevens with four points; Alex Padilla with three points; Kam Havilland with two points; and Brady Gest with two points.